President Muhammadu Buhari has directed all members of his cabinet wishing to contest for any political office in the 2023 general elections to resign their appointment on or before Monday, May 16, 2022.
Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed revealed this to State House correspondents at the weekly FEC meeting chaired by the president.
The directive was coming in the midst of the controversy over section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022, currently a subject of litigation.
It reads: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”
And in their very quick response, the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) said the decision would put an end to impunity and also called on the president to extend similar order to those eyeing elective offices in the Ministries Departments and Agencies.
The order
Conveying the presidential order, Minister of Information and Culture Mohammed said: “The mandate I have from the President is to announce that all members of the Federal Executive Council contesting for elective office must resign their ministerial cabinet appointments on or before Monday the 16th of May, 2022.”
When asked if the directive affects the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who is vying for the post of President, the minister said “the Vice President was elected, he was not appointed.”
On the fate of other political appointees like the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria Godwin Emefiele, who might also be running for the post of president, the minister said the directive might be extended to non-cabinet members.
“As of this moment, the mandate I have is for members of the Federal Executive Council. Subsequently it might affect other political appointees but that will be made known. If there is going to be any amendment or any inclusion, you will be informed in due course,” he said.
Roll call of affected ministers
Those affected by the presidential directive include Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Akpabio; Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige; Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Ogbonnaya Onu; Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN; and Minister of State for Education Emeka Nwajiuba, all of whom are seeking their different ambitions on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.
Others are Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development Uche Ogar, who is running for governorship position in Abia state and Minister of Women Affairs Paulline Tallen who has declared her ambition to contest for the Plateau South senatorial seat.
I’ll consult Buhari, constituents — Ngige
Meanwhile, reacting to the president’s directive, the minister of labour and employment, Senator Ngige, said he was not in a hurry to resign from his appointment as he had to consult with President Buhari and his constituents before tendering any resignation letter.
“I have no reaction for now because the President said if anyone wants clarifications, the person should meet him. So I have to consult him and consult my constituents, Anambra state because I am holding the office for the government and my constituents,” Ngige stated.
Nwajiuba resigns
Also, Mr Nwajiuba announced his resignation at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Buhari.
Nwajiuba had, April 27, announced his intention to run for president in the 2023 general election on the APC platform.
A ministry source said Nwajiuba had tendered his resignation since April 28 after announcing his intention to contest the presidency.
“He actually resigned effective April 28th after accepting to run,” the source said.
“The president approved his resignation upon resumption from the Eid break on May 3rd and then travelled out.
“Nwajiuba left the announcement for the president to do as protocol demands. The president announced that resignation today at FEC before giving the order,” said the source.
CSOs react
In its reaction, the Social Mobilisation Manager, ActionAid Nigeria, Adewale Adeduntan said the president’s directive was in order, noting that it would present him as a democrat in view of the earlier uproars trailing the contentious section 84(12) of the Electoral Act.
“You will recall the president had asked the National Assembly to delete the section, but the legislature did not budge. The president’s declaration should however run through all the MDAs.
“It should also be extended to non-cabinet members too who are vying for one elective position or the other. Doing this will extend the frontier of probity and rule out the conflict of interest.
“We also look forward to when the same rule will apply to officials across the board. This is because it is unethical, immoral, and unacceptable for elective office seekers to be deploying taxpayers’ resources and time to canvass for votes, regardless of who is involved,” he said.
Ojo
Also, Executive Director, OJA Development Consult, author, columnist and public affairs analyst, Jide Ojo, said what the president did was long overdue.
He said Buhari never showed enough leadership quality on this matter “because he allowed public pressure to mount before he deemed it fit to order the resignation of the ministers.”
“So, you can see the impunity with which someone like Chris Ngige was going about saying he won’t resign because he has a constitutional backing to stay in office till 30 days to election interpreting his own rules.
“The law also says that all of these political appointees are serving at the pleasure of the President so, why should it take the President this long?
“The timetable and schedule of election activities say party primaries are to be held between April 4th and June 3rd, 2022. A serious president should have issued the order way back in a speech during the signing of the Electoral Act into law to say for those who are interested in running for political office should please excuse us.
“The damage that has been done by these people while in office at the same time pursing their political interest is enormous. Most of them have not been in office in the last one month, they possibly run to attend FEC meetings in Abuja and then go around campaigning afterwards.
“ASUU has been on strike for months and Ngige has been busy flaunting around saying he won’t resign same as others. They have become a liability on this administration and I expected to Buhari should have asked for their resignation within 24 hours. In fact, today’s FEC meeting should have been a valedictory for them,” he said.
Ex-OATUU scribe
Also, a former Secretary General Organisations of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), Owei Lakemfa said the president’s directive was in line with the Electoral Act.
Lakemfa also said “being a political appointee is like being employed to do a job. Without resigning or going on a leave of absence means that the job will suffer.”
He said the political appointees needed not to wait for President Buhari’s directive before doing what is logical and legal.
CISLAC
Similarly, Executive Director Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani commended Mr. President for taking this laudable step and listening to Nigerians towards ensuring a free, fair and credible election.
The CISLAC head said: “It is worthy of note to mention that this action puts to bed worries of complicity in the impunity with which some political appointees have expressed their political interests ahead of the upcoming general elections in total disregard for the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and the sensibilities of Nigerians whose collective resources have been diverted to satisfy personal political ambitions.
“These illegalities have been well condemned by the public and the President’s decision at this time is indeed a welcome one and reflects responsiveness to the yearnings of the citizenry.
“We also call on all political parties to demonstrate ethical and moral standards that ensure a democratic election and avoid the commercialisation and proliferation of money politics which has disqualified patriotic Nigerians from partaking in the elections.”
CSSR
Also weighing in, Country Director ActionAid & Convener Civil Society Situation Room Ene Obi advised the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stick to its timelines and deadlines, adding that the CSOs were aware of the antics of the politicians to change the timetable and schedule of activities.
Obi also complained of insufficient civic education in the country, especially with regards to the forthcoming Ekiti and Osun elections which she said, was a consequence of voter apathy in previous elections.
“We are still very worried about voter apathy because when you have an election where you have 84.5 million registered voters and you have only about 27 million people voting, it means that so many people who should have chosen their leader did not participate,” she said.
She also said Nigerians would no longer tolerate the non performance of the BVAS this time, wondering why the technology performs during off-cycle elections and fails during the main election.
She said “Nigerians want to see improvements with the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.”
She further said even as they hold electoral body to account, the CSOs were not unaware of the difficult terrain.
The activist called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to go after politicians throwing money around in the guise of buying nomination forms.
“We also hope that all those who are spreading the money around that EFCC will go after them. We want proof of people who have account. The government cannot tell us that they don’t know who has or does not have account. We have the BVN.
“So anybody who doesn’t have money who is bringing N100 million in the face of Nigerians dying left and right because we have more than 100 million Nigerians living below the poverty line,” she said.
